I’m sitting here with a little monkey in my lap (Declan) – it’s safe to say that, as a tech-working mama, he’s drawn to the computer. And my phone. And anything with a keyboard. It’s probably the nature of life today, especially in my profession, but it still sometimes feels wrong to have him so grabby at tech items all the time. Especially when I know his little brain needs other stimulation to grow and learn, too.

Last month, almost exactly 4 weeks ago, I deactivated my Facebook. Some noticed right away, I’m sure many others didn’t notice at all. I didn’t announce it – I didn’t want to make a big fuss. But after watching my toddler constantly grab my phone, or try to get my attention while I was staring at it, I knew I needed to do something drastic – at least temporarily. There were other reasons behind it, too – mostly that I found I was spending more time daydreaming about life instead of living it, and I was finding myself feeling down about my own life more than I have any right to be (anyone remember that whole Facebook experiment blow up?). But kids are the most powerful kind of motivation, and I didn’t like the version of me he was growing up with, so I took the drastic route and deactivated it entirely.

I learned a few things these last 4 weeks, as you can imagine.

Deactivating is both freeing and lonely. I felt so great the first day. Even that first week, despite feeling urges to go log in while I was in my breaking-the-habit period, I was feeling pretty proud of myself. But it also ended up being pretty lonely – Facebook became a way for me to easily contact friends. It replaced phone numbers and emails, and deactivating meant basically losing a way to get in contact with certain people. In the days of home phones and phone books this wouldn’t be an issue, but there isn’t a cell phone directory so I ended up feeling like I had cut myself off from people I cared about.

I actually started forgetting my phone at home. In the time that I was basically disconnected from my social media feed, I managed to leave my phone home twice. The first time I panicked a bit, but the second time it felt like no big deal. Without feeling the need to constantly check the feeds, I didn’t feel so screwed by not having my phone with me.

I stopped repeatedly checking other websites, too. By deactivating my Facebook, it stopped me from posting something and then checking back obsessively for likes and comments. (Yes, I really was THAT bad. Probably worse than the average teenager you might know, even). But I started noticing something funny about other sites I use, like my knitting site Ravelry – I stopped obsessing about those “love/funny/educational/interesting” buttons they have, too. Same with my plus one’s on Google+. Because it’s not that they don’t matter – they do – but I don’t need to look at them over and over again to see if my numbers went up.

I feel happier and like I have a fresh set of eyes for social media. Taking a break and completely pulling myself away from it was the perfect “vacation.” That’s something we forget about, sometimes, when we take actual vacations. For people in other industries, it’s easy for them to take a week off from the job or office. I’ve been doing this since I was 16, and have been essentially constantly connected in some form since then. This is the first time, in 15 years, that I’ve forced myself to truly take a break from something. And it was fabulous. I can log back in with a less obsessed routine and limit my usage a lot more now than if I had tried this for only a week.

Obviously social media presents us with all sorts of advantages, but in a world that expects constant online connection it’s great to sometimes take a proper break and step away for a bit, especially when life gets complicated more and more each day.

Hi everyone! As some of you know already, Neighborhood Image is transitioning a bit. Last month Sean accepted the position of executive director with the local Boys & Girls Club (read about it here!), and therefore we’re not physically in the office so much as working on-the-go from laptops and cellphones.

This transition means we’ll be closing our physical office on Center St starting July 1st. We’ll have a PO Box for you to mail your payments to when invoices go out next month, but otherwise our phone number and the services we offer are staying exactly the same. It just didn’t make sense to pay rent on a space we were only using a handful of days each month.

As always, you’re welcome to email either of us whenever you have a question or need some help as it’s the fastest way to get in touch with us.

Read up! is a monthly post of curated articles that we found and loved or found interesting.

“Don’t try to fake it till you make it. Keep it real from the get-go. Transparency and authenticity are not an option on social media. Offer your opinions, not just the facts. Win friends and influence people with refreshing candor. Mean what you say and say what you mean. Put a face on your brand every step of the way.”

How Age Groups Use Social Media DifferentlySidenote: if this information doesn’t get you out of your Facebook rut and trying to market in other social media platforms then I don’t know what will. Don’t limit yourself to just one demographic – branch out!

“Knowing the age demographics for each social network is crucial. When creating content and cultivating a social strategy, your brand should know how to implement it for each social channel. For example, just like you wouldn’t focus your Snapchat content strategy around baby boomers, your Facebook content should target an older crowd, knowing that youths are taking their engagement elsewhere.”

A little over five years ago we were in a bit of a predicament and there were two options: strike out on our own, or Sean needed to find a new job elsewhere. It was a big choice to make, and it resulted in a lot of stressing on our part, a lot of negotiation on Sean’s part with our former employer, and a lot of faith that we could do this. The situation was less than ideal – no one wants to be informed that they’d be out of a job – but it was the hand we were dealt. It was both exciting and terrifying, though terrifying might be a bit of an understatement.

A lot has happened over five years, and in the beginning I wasn’t sure we’d make it. We knew we could handle our usual work with the design, news site, etc, but running a business, dealing with taxes, etc is a whole different ball game. There were a lot of tears on my part the first year when we had to pay out way more taxes than we anticipated. The learning curve was really steep. It’s no wonder most small businesses fail within the first few years – it’s hard. In fact, the Small Business Administration has a PDF with some stats that show that “half of all new establishments survive five years or more and about one-third survive 10 years or more.” We had a 50/50 chance with this, and I’m so thrilled to report that we’ve hit that five year mark. We’ve made it to the better half of that statistic!

I’m so thankful for every single client who has chosen to work with us, both past and present, over these last five years. Without you, we wouldn’t still be here doing the things we love, getting to work with other amazing people in the community.

Today I’m going to step out of my comfort zone and do something I hate the most: I’m going to get personal. I have for the longest time held blog after blog and written about my personal life. You didn’t know that because I’m always so paranoid about people I know in real life finding it. I’ve held several domain names and written under fake names. I know there’s nothing to be afraid of, since mostly I only write about my knitting or the garden or what I’ve baked lately. But the idea of people I know reading something I’ve written, and then the possibility of them talking to me in real life about it, terrifies me. It’s probably totally ridiculous, but there it is. I don’t want to be paralyzed by that fear anymore, so here’s my attempt to break out of this cage of fear: The Business Mom Life posts.

We’re 6 months into this new baby thing and it’s been such a huge adjustment. Sean and I were both accustomed to working a lot. When I wasn’t working my “regular” job (i.e. the one that pays our health insurance) I’d be home on the computer catching up on client work, new designs, etc. Sean would come home from the Neighborhood Image office only to have server issues to fix or meetings or whatever else came up. Workaholic might be an understatement. With a baby? It’s not possible to keep that kind of routine up. We tried, that’s for sure. Before the baby was even here I was confident that I’d be able to keep up my Monday work-from-home routine. Even after, on my maternity leave, I tried jumping back into my routine. Do you know how much work you get done with a baby who doesn’t like to nap? Exactly zero. My Mondays have gone from a perfectly productive day to just plain stressful: if I try to work, I feel guilty for not spending time with/paying attention enough to my kid, and if I try to spend time with him I feel guilty for not getting work done. Mom guilt is the worst. I don’t even want to talk about the fact that this kid is almost mobile – I’m pretty sure any spare minute I get now to attempt to work will vanish instantly with that first proper crawl.

I’m not sure how everyone else manages to balance work and life, and I imagine most people out there aren’t trying to do two different jobs on top of it, but here’s a few ways we’re managing to survive so far:

I’m home Mondays and Sean’s home Fridays. We like to call it “daddy day” for Declan, or when Sean talks about it it’s “Declan day.” Not only does it save on child care costs, but it also gives us each a day to spend time with him. We’re not as productive as we used to be, but we make up for it with weekends and after bedtime work and I like to think it balances it out. Also, there’s a large part of me that enjoys this because I don’t feel like I’m the only one sacrificing some work time for family time – having us as a “team” on this kind of schedule is absolutely wonderful.

Declan goes to meetings with us sometimes. Life happens: meetings have to be held on a Monday or Friday, or there’s an issue with our child care schedule (like today, which is probably the only reason why I’m writing this on a Tuesday instead of a Saturday or Sunday) or it’s something going on in the evening. We try to gauge meetings and whether it’s something we can take him to if we can’t find an alternative – we know a lot of our clients don’t mind and like seeing him, and with both of us there it’s easier to manage.

We eat dinner at the table now. It wasn’t something we’ve normally done – when it was just the two of us we had a habit of coming home, fixing dinner, and eating it while watching TV. There’s still nothing wrong with that, and I do kind of miss it. But when you’re constantly busy, communication starts going downhill. By forcing ourselves to eat dinner at the dining room table we’re able to have conversations without distraction (well, minimal distraction at least).

I write everything down. Digital calendars work for a lot of people, but not me. I’ve found that if I’m not writing it down, I’ll forget it. I try to keep my planner out and nearby so I can write in it constantly – appointments, notes from the day, random things I want to look up, reminders to take my vitamins… if I need to remember it, it gets written down. I don’t even use anything fancy – just a lined notebook with a cute cover that tucks into my purse. I’ll write more about my planner and how I use it later.

Looking for something fun to do Saturday night that supports a fantastic cause? Come hang out with Sean and I at the annual Boys & Girls Club dinner and auction! There’s food by Rob Stumpo (so you know it’s good), a cash bar that I’ll be helping run, and a TON of fantastic things up for both a silent and live auction. Including an advertising auction item that includes $400 worth of ads on MarionOnline.com that we’ve donated as well as advertising with other media outlets.

It’s a fun night out for a great cause! Tickets are $30 each or 2 for $50. For more information or to buy tickets, feel free to check out the B&GC website. Hope we see you there!

The new year is almost here, with fresh starts and possibilities galore. I adore the Steven Spielberg quote above because it doesn’t just apply to people. Your business, and by extension your website needs, change. The new year is all about change, and while we’re all planning out our resolutions (Sean and I just re-joined the YMCA again – this baby is already keeping us busy and we’re going to need the energy to keep up with him as he grows) now is a fantastic time to do a website check-up!

How do you do a website check-up? Set aside some time this January for the following tasks:

Review your website for any changes that need made. Is there anything missing from your site that really should be on there? Are your customers receiving outdated information? Maybe some new photos to freshen things up?

Think about how you’re using your website. Are you blogging? Are you linking back to your website when you post on social media? Does your website work for how you want and, more importantly, need to use it? Or is it time for a change?

Take a glance at your site analytics/statistics if you aren’t regularly following them throughout the year. You can get a wealth of knowledge about your customers by looking at what pages are visited the most, where your customers are finding you, etc.

Check your business listings elsewhere online – Google Pages, Yelp, and such. Is all the information accurate? Your customers could be Googling you and receiving old information from a variety of places other than your website – don’t let them find old/bad information and lose business!

So far we’ve done a bit of homework on what you want for your website, and we’ve researched domain options to find the best one for your business. Next? Website content.

Have you looked at the length of news stories online these days? A lot of times you’ll find them to be short and sweet and to the point. Writing for the internet isn’t like the days in school where you had a 1,000 word minimum you had to meet and you had to spend time elaborating and exaggerating to meet that minimum. With everyone constantly on the go, we all want to get the information we need as quick as possible.

With that in mind, here are some do’s and don’ts of content for your website:

Do:

Keep your information clear, concise, and to the point. Double and triple-check your information and see what you can strip out, what isn’t relative to the page topic, and anything that sounds repetitive.

Think of questions you are frequently asked by customers and then include that information online.

Write to your customer (that’s who you’re marketing to, after all). Be conversational but professional.

Don’t:

Use acronyms or technical/industry terms. Your client/customer may not have any idea what you’re talking about, and you’re not shaving off much reading time by using acronyms instead of writing out the full name/words.

Plagiarize. No one likes a thief. Your content should be in your own words.

Write too much (or too little). The key is to find a happy balance between the two.

When in doubt, write as much as you want and let Neighborhood Image help you go through it and pare it back! Sometimes we, as business owners, know our own business so in-depth that it’s hard to look at it from an outsider’s point of view. A fresh set of eyes can find and question anything that seems unclear and help to make sure your customers won’t be frustrated trying to get information from your website.

You’ve done your homework and armed yourself with a good chunk of information for your new website – now let’s look at your domain name. If you already have one, great! These days 90% of our clients already have one, but if your business is new or you’re looking for a name change, here are a few guidelines in selecting the domain name you’ll call home:

Pick the obvious – Match your domain name to your brand. We’re Neighborhood Image, so neighborhoodimage.com was the obvious choice.

Pick a variation that makes sense – You do your research and find out your business name is already taken. What now? Consider other options and your location – joeshomerenovations.com might be taken, but what about joesrenovations.com or marionhomerenovations.com? Keep your domain name as relevant as possible.

Make sure your domain is spelled right– If the domain you want is available and it seems like it’s too good to be true (you just can’t believe that no one thought to snatch it up already), double and triple check that you spelled it right! We’ve had to break the hearts of a client or two when we point out the misspelled name in the domain they registered.

Break your domain down– Sean pointed this out to me as something he does from time to time. He’ll break down domain names and look at the words as they run together to make sure it doesn’t spell something totally inappropriate.

Sometimes knowing where to begin on a website can feel overwhelming – you’re not sure where to begin, what information you need to have on there, and you’re not sure where to start with putting all of that information together into a cohesive finished product.

But with a little bit of homework you can easily get off to a good start and ensure the website you end up with is exactly what you want and need. I know, I know – no one likes homework. Not in school, not in college, and certainly not at work. Homework is, however, essential!

Here are 5 items to think about and get you feeling more comfortable with what you want/need from your new website (bonus points if you write all your answers down and bring them with you for your initial meeting with us!):

Audience– Who is your audience? What reason(s) do customers have for visiting the site (informational purposes, online shopping, making reservations, etc)?

Your current site – (If you have a website already) What do you like about it and why? What do you dislike about it?

Your new site – Do you have a specific look or feel in mind? Color preferences? What images do you have available (your logo, stock photos, candids, etc)? What specific features do you want your site to have?

Content – What pages need to be on the site and what information needs to go on those pages? Do you have information already written up or do you need to take a bit of time writing up what you want those pages to have on it? If you want to post news or blog posts, do you already have a few items written that can be added during the building process (no one likes an empty page)?

Deadline – The all-important question: what is your deadline for this project?

Use the above to help give you a rough outline of what you’re looking for and you’ll be ahead of the game when it comes time to get that new website going.